"If you shut up the truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow, and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way."

- French author Emile Zola

"Treason does never prosper.
What's the reason?
When it prospers,
None dare call it treason."

Sir John Harrington

Is James Files telling the truth?

Why do I believe James Files is telling the truth? Here is a non-exhaustive list of reasons in random order:

When I first learned about James Files some three years ago, I was rather amazed that I didn’t know his name. After all, I had been studying the Kennedy assassination for over 12 years. I was more astonished because Files had made his confession in 1994 and I was told the website had been up since 1995. When I searched for the name "James Files" on the Internet, I found that 9 out of 10 articles attempted to completely discredit Files' story. I then set out to closely investigate these criticisms and came to the conclusion they were all superficial and didn't hold water.

For example, critics said that the weapon Files claimed to have used was more a pistol than a rifle and would have had an enormous recoil. They said it "kicks like a mule". Therefore, Files could never have seen what he claimed he had witnessed through the scope of his weapon. I sent an email to one of the gun shops I found on the Internet. I acted as a potential customer and asked whether the Remington Fireball was a pleasant weapon to fire. That man stated the weapon was one of the most sophisticated guns ever made, etc. When I inquired about the recoil he said it was nice and steady. Ultimately, I told him why I asked. He was quite amused and said that the alleged murder weapon of Lee Harvey Oswald had a lot more recoil than the Fireball. He added that whoever said that the XP-100 had substantial recoil had a lot to learn about firearms.

Files was also criticized with the allegation that the XP-100 was not available in 1963 and that the rounds used for this weapon were not a .222 caliber but rather .221. I found both accusations to be untrue. The weapon was introduced in 1963 and prototypes were available as early as 1962. The weapon was originally chambered for .222 rounds. To learn more about the Remington XP-100 Fireball click here.

Three frames of the Zapruder film show the head going forward first

+ How does the available evidence coincide with James Files? Well, there is the testimony of Lee Bowers, who was the operator of the railroad tower with a clear view behind the picket fence. James Files says he wore a plaid poplin jacket. Lee Bowers described a young man with such a coat:

Mr. BOWERS. Directly in line, towards the mouth of the underpass, there were two men. One man, middle-aged, or slightly older, fairly heavy-set, in a white shirt, fairly dark trousers. Another younger man, about midtwenties, in either a plaid shirt or plaid coat or jacket.
Mr. BALL.. Were they standing together or standing separately?
Mr. BOWERS. They were standing within 10 or 15 feet of each other, and gave no appearance of being together, as far as I knew.

Lee Bowers also described three cars that drove into the parking lot behind the picket fence. One of these cars fits the description of the Oldsmobile stationwagon that Chauncey Holt and Charles Nicoletti had driven from Arizona:

Mr. BALL. What was the description of that car?
Mr. BOWERS. The first car was a 1959 Oldsmobile, blue and white station wagon with out-of-State license.
Mr. BALL. Do you know what State?
Mr. BOWERS. No; I do not. I would know it, I could identify it, I think, if I looked at a list.
Mr. BALL. And, it had something else, some bumper stickers?
Mr. BOWERS. Had a bumper sticker, one of which was a Goldwater sticker, and the other of which was of some scenic location, I think.

Note that Chauncey Holt and Charles Nicolletti had driven the car from Arizona and that Barry Goldwater, a senator from that state, was running for President. By the way, it is remarkable that Mr. Ball asks that question about the bumber sticker since Mr. Ball was one of Holt's CIA handlers.

Lee Bowers was also one of many witnesses that heard the last two shots very close together or almost simultaneously. As did Seymour Weitzman:

Joe Ball: How many shots did you hear?
Seymour Weitzman: Three distinct shots.
Joe Ball: How were they spaced?
Seymour Weitzman: First one, then the second two seemed to be simultaneously.

This is exactly what Files said: His shot hit JFK in the head at the same time as a shot from the back.

James Files also said there were two men in business suits in his vicinity, who later stopped bystanders by posing as Secret Service agents.

The two businessmen that Files mentions were between him and the motorcade and he was somewhat concerned about them. The photographical evidence that is available at the time of the assassination, does not show men in business suits on the grassy knoll. But it is of course very likely that these men were there before the assassination took place and that they sought a better place to stay out of sight at the time of the shots. As the motorcade was arriving James Files was not paying attention anymore to what happened around him as he was keeping Kennedy in the scope of his weapon. Several witnesses, for example Gordon Arnold and police officers Joe Smith and Seymour Weitzman, have testified they were turned back by men on the grassy knoll, showing Secret Service credentials. Official Secret Service records show that no agents were assigned on Dealey Plaza or the grassy knoll.

A very unknown witness who did not appear for the Warren Commission, was Charles Blankenship. His story was recently uncovered by researcher Michael Parks:

Michael Parks recently came across evidence of even another witness to the knoll agent. He relayed this to from Mrs. Charles Blankenship: Her husband, Charles "Charlie" Blankenship was with the DPS office from another county other than Dallas. She recalled him working out of the Fort Worth office but was not sure. He was off duty on 11/22/63 but had come to Dallas to see the president with other officers stationed in Dallas. He was standing on the east side of Houston Street in front of the Records Building. He heard the shooting and, like many other lawmen, ran to where he felt the shots had originated, this being the knoll area. He supposedly encountered two men in suits that stated they were Secret Service agents. They told him he could go no further and he turned and left Dealey Plaza. He was not interviewed by any agency and kept this story to his immediate family until his death. It was known that he had a relative on the Dallas Police force. Source: http://www.jfklancer.com/knollagent/knollagent.html

There is also evidence that seems to conflict with the account of James Files. This is the story of Ed Hoffman, a deaf mute man, who was ignored by the FBI, but claims to have seen a man in a suit firing a gun from behind the picket fence. This man then tossed the gun to another man, who disassembled the rifle and put it in a briefcase. This other man was dressed as railroad worker and walked away with the briefcase in the direction of the railroad yard. James Files says that he was alone behind the picket fence. However, I tend to see Ed Hoffman as credible, although he is a single and thus uncorroborated source. If we assume Hoffman's account is true, and since there is evidence of more than one shot from the front, for example the wound in Kennedy's throat, it is not inconceivable that Files, concentrated as he was on the target, may have missed another shooter behind the fence and closer to the underpass. This man could have appeared at the last moment. He could have been hiding behind or in one of the cars behind the picket fence. It could well have been one of the men in suits, posing as Secret Service agents.

+ The critics of James Files claim that he is just a convict with "too much time on his hands" and that he must have read many books on the assassination to invent his story, which would be designed to get fame and attention. This claim can be discounted for many reasons:

1) Files has given his video confession only once in 1994. He had vouched he would never do it again. Indeed, I have worked for almost a year to get him to agree to a second and final interview. I had already given up untill he finally consented for a specific reason that has nothing to do with getting attention.

2) Files has met with Oliver Stone three times and he told us (Jim Marrs and me) this:

JF - We wasn't aware of the water situation untill Oliver Stone comes along to make a movie here. And when he made his movie here, we see all these people from the movie company running around carrying bottles of water. Even the officers that worked here, they got suspicious and that’s when we started finding out: this water is unhealthy.

Wim - Did you actually meet Oliver Stone?

JF - I met Oliver Stone three times. As a matter of fact I have a paper that Joe West … no excuse me, not Joe West but Bob Vernon, had Oliver Stone sign. Now Bob Vernon had come in after the Joe West deal. Bob Vernon took over for Joe West. Bob Vernon met with Oliver Stone and he had him sign an agreement where they wanted to get me on film, but I refused to do that. I met with Oliver Stone three times.

Jim - And you never told him your story?

JF - No, I did not tell Oliver Stone my story. I refused to discuss it with him and uh …like I say, I ‘ve got a copy, It’s got Oliver Stone’s signature on it, Bob Vernon’s, the only signature that states what it’s all about, the only thing missing is my signature because I would never sign that paper for the agreement.

Jim - Why was that?

JF - I didn’t like the man!

Jim - Case closed!

JF - Case closed! And if you’d like I would be more than happy to send you a copy of the document. And it has got Oliver Stone’s original signature on it. And it has Bob Vernon’s signature on it.

Well, I guess that answers the critics who say that Files is just a convict trying to get attention. I mean, if you want attention, you want to talk to Oliver Stone, who was the director of the blockbuster movie JFK.

3) Tony Godinez is the former warden of Stateville Correctional Center. He has interviewed James Files more often than anyone else. He has testified that he never saw a book about JFK in the cell of James Files.

4) I found out first hand that James Files is not well read on the JFK assassination, just like he says. The day before the camera interview., I talked with him on an extended visit for four hours. We covered many subjects, one of them was Chauncey Holt and the three tramps. James Files started telling me that in his view the three men were not professionals. I asked him why? He then said that they did not know "how to improvise", and that they were stupid to get themselves arrested by the cops, because in a situation like that "you just have to shoot the cops". I explained to him that this would have been difficult since they were found in a closed boxcar and that they had been instructed by their superiors to hide in that boxcar, which would make their exit. I also told him that they were not arrested, because they identified themselves as undercover agents, and they were escorted to the Sheriff's office for a short hearing. Files then conceded and he said he did not know that, adding that I knew lot more about the assassination than he did.

+ It is clear to me that the short and sweet "investigation" of James Files by the FBI was designed to discredit his information, rather than to get to the bottom of it. James Files was interviewed by two FBI agents eight months BEFORE his videotaped confession. The transcript of this interview can be found by clicking here.

+ Everything that James Files has said and was checkable, proved to be true. Even the smallest details that have nothing to do with JFK. I'll give an example here. In the last interview on 11/19/2003 James Files told me this:

"I’m not saying there is other shooters, what I am saying is this: I have no need to know of everybody that is involved in an operation. What purpose would that serve? That’s like me going into a communist country on a covert operation and me knowing everybody, all the other agents that are there in that field working. And if I get captured, they all get executed! So the same thing goes when it comes down to crime. You try to keep your people the least bit to know as possible. Because too many times, maybe partners, and that’s like … I can use one deal, one party back east out of Philadelphia, I did time with him in the federal prison. His own brother gave him up. His brother knew that he was a big time cocaine dealer, he was a dentist. They called him Dr. Snow. I don’t remember his real name, but they called him Dr. Snow. His brother got busted on a nickel bag of weed in New York. He gave his own brother up because he couldn’t do a year in the jail. His brother told him:! I’ll give you a million dollars a year. For every year they keep you in jail, I give you a million dollars cash. Don’t testify against me! He put his brother in jail."

Since James Files did not remember the name of "Dr Snow", I did a check on Google for "dentist" and "Dr. Snow" and I quickly saw that Dr. Snow is Larry Lavin. Two books have been written about the case. So I emailed one of the authors Carol Saline wit the following results:

Do you know if Larry Lavin is
still alive? If so, can you
contact him? Is he in prison?
Is it true that he was given
up by his own brother?

Thanks for getting back,

Wim Dankbaar

(Netherlands)

Larry is very much alive. We speak and write regularly. He is still in
prison and will be released next January. Yes it's true that his brother
was instrumental in his capture. Have you read my book Dr. Snow. It's
all in there. You can buy it, including a update with larry's parole
hearing which I covered, from buybooksontheweb.com.

Another detail described by Files is about Nicoletti's car:

Jim Marrs – Okay, so now you got …. Describe the car!

James Files – The car was a ’63 Chevy two door Burgundy. Chevy Impala.

Jim Marrs – With the special compartment?

James Files - Oh yeah, we had a special compartment in the dash, we had the backseat, you could take that off, pull the bottom part up, raise the back up, snap it up little clams and take that out. We had the springs removed behind the seat there by it and we had little racks welded in there so we could mount weapons in there.

I found this fragment here from an article written by an organised crime expert:

"By the late 1950's, Nicoletti had a feared reputation as a hitman and was one of the usual suspects brought in for questioning whenever cops thought they had a gangland-style-slaying on their hands. In 1962, he was arrested while driving a so-called "work" car, specially equipped with hidden compartments for guns, rear lights that turned off, a souped up engine, special reinforcement on both sides, bullet proof glass and a rotating rear license plate. It was no surprise the next day when a mob associate was found slain near where Nicoletti had been detained." Source: http://www.ganglandnews.com/column80.htm

+ James Files says that his CIA supervisor, who also recruited him, was David Atlee Phillips.
David Atlee Phillips is a man whose name is well known to assassination researchers. He was called to testify for the House Select Committee on Assassinations in the 1970's. Several members of the committee wanted to call him again for they believed he had not told the truth and committed perjury.

Phillips was traced as a suspect as a result of the testimony of cuban exile leader Antonio Veciana, a friend of Files, who knew his CIA case officer only under the alias of "Maurice Bishop". A composite sketch, based on the recollections of Veciana prompted US senator Schweiker to recognize David Atlee Phillips. A confrontation between Veciana and Phillips was arranged but Veciana, apparently fearing for his safety, refused to identify Phillips as his former case officer, but later acknowledged privately that Phillips was indeed his CIA controller.

The following is known of David Atlee Phillips by now: He was one of the masterminds for the CIA staged coup by Pinochet in 1973, as well as the overthrow in 1954 of the Guatemala regime headed by Jacobo Arbenz. He was working closely with CIA officer E. Howard Hunt, another suspect in the plot to kill JFK and the leader of the infamous Watergate burglar team. In the 1950's and 1960's, Phillips was the CIA case officer for the anti Castro Cubans in Havana and Mexico City. The star of David Atlee Phillips rose to CIA director of Special Operations for the Western Hemisphere.

David Atlee Phillips died of cancer on 7th July, 1988. He left behind an unpublished manuscript. The novel is about a CIA officer who lived in Mexico City. In the novel the character states: "I was one of those officers who handled Lee Harvey Oswald... We gave him the mission of killing Fidel Castro in Cuba... I don't know why he killed Kennedy. But I do know he used precisely the plan we had devised against Castro. Thus the CIA did not anticipate the president's assassination, but it was responsible for it. I share that guilt."

According to his nephew Shawn Phillips, who is quite a famous musician, David Atlee Phillips confirmed to his brother James Atlee Phillips that he was in Dallas the day Kennedy died. To read Shawn's email: click here.